Do Not Be Afraid

King Duncan shares this story about Dr. William Stidger. Dr. Stidger once told of a lovely little 90-year-old lady named Mrs. Sampson. Mrs. Sampson was frail, feeble, and even sickly. But Dr. Stidger said that when he was discouraged he always went to visit Mrs. Sampson. She had a radiant spirit that was contagious. One day he asked this 90-year-young-woman, “What is the secret of your power? What keeps you happy, contented and cheerful through your sickness?” She answered with a line from a poem, “I had an hour of glory on a windswept hill.” Bill Stidger said, recounting this experience, “I knew she had been in touch with God and that was the whole reason for her cheerfulness.” Listen again to her words: “an hour of glory on a windswept hill.” It sounds very much like the experience Peter, James and John had on the mount where the Transfiguration took place. This week’s gospel recounts that event in the life of the three disciples closet to Jesus in His life and ministry. Given special privileges and precious time with Jesus, these three were the best friends that Jesus related to while here on earth. Sometimes we refer to significant moments in life as “mountaintop experiences.” Many of us have had such experiences, a time when God seemed very close. It may have been on an actual mountain, by a seaside, an ordinary day in our life or even in a liturgical celebration, like at Mass! When they occur what do we do? Peter, ever quick with a response that oftentimes is given without thinking, wants to build three shelters and stay on that mountain. But life cannot be lived on a mountaintop alone. We need to descend into the valleys of life as well. It provides us a balance but also tenders reality with the experience that overwhelms us. But as Peter is still speaking, a bright cloud casts a shadow over them, and a voice from the cloud says, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him!” Upon hearing this voice, the disciples fall down in fear and terror. Are we not at times as well overcome with fears and terrors when experiences in life touch us at our deepest core? A certain amount of fear is healthy. Some of us are missing some of the joy of living, however, because unhealthy fears are dominating us. We sit shyly in a corner afraid to interact. We spend hours in needless worry. We fear what others may think about us. We fear aging; we fear death. We fear people who are different from us. The number of ways fear can cripple us are numberless. Some of us are afraid to show that we are afraid and the result is anger, bitterness, prejudice and cynicism. Do you realize that the bad attitude that many people nurture is simply their way of coping with fear? We need to hear the voice of Jesus and what He told Peter, James, and John in today’s gospel. He said to them – and we need to hear it as well – “Do not be afraid.”